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Moderator

Pancreatic Cancer Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others

Posted by Colleen Young, Connect Director @colleenyoung, Dec 3, 2019

Welcome to the Pancreatic Cancer group on Mayo Clinic Connect.
This is a welcoming, safe place where you can meet people living with pancreatic cancer or caring for someone with pancreatic cancer. Let’s learn from each other and share stories about living well with cancer, coping with the challenges and offering tips.

I’m Colleen, and I’m the moderator of this group, and Community Director of Connect. Chances are you’ll to be greeted by fellow members and volunteer patient Mentors, when you post to this group. Learn more about Moderators and Volunteer Mentors on Connect.

We look forward to welcoming you and introducing you to other members. Feel free to browse the topics or start a new one.

Pull up a chair. Let's start with introductions.

When were you diagnosed with pancreatic cancer? What treatments have you had? How are you doing?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Pancreatic Cancer Support Group.

Profile picture for marienewland
marienewland | @mnewland99 | 10 hours ago
In reply to @joealp1 "@lhlawrence I'm an 87 year old man, diagnosed in Feb. 2025 with adenocarcinoma in head of..." + (show)
Profile picture for joealp1 @joealp1

@lhlawrence
I'm an 87 year old man, diagnosed in Feb. 2025 with adenocarcinoma in head of pancreas, non-resectable. I've been on chemo, gemcitabine and abraxane, since March, every 2 weeks, so far no metastasis. My surgical guy, Mark Bloomston, with Lee Health in southwest Florida, introduced me to two potential procedures for shrinkage of the tumor: nanoknife and histotripsy. The latter is non invasive, using high energy ultra sound to generate gas bubbles in the tumor that burst, destroying the tumor in the process. It's new for the pancreas, has been approved for use in the liver by the FCC. I had the histotripsy procedure done in December, as an outpatient, recovery a piece of cake, and significant impact on the tumor. Final results await the next scan, but Bloomston very pleased. Your doctors should be aware of these options, nanoknife has been around for a while. Histotripsy for the pancreas is new and wasn't covered by my insurance. Could be a problem. I've learned a lot from ChatGPT, recommend it as a surrogate doctor for general advice and options for discussion with the real gdoctors. Hope this helps.

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@joealp1
Thank you for letting the forum know about histotripsy for pancreas. I had it done on my liver July 2025 and still have a "clean liver". Worked better than the MRI radiation where the effect only lasted 5 months before lesions came back.

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Mentor
Turkey, Volunteer Mentor | @tomrennie | 9 hours ago
In reply to @mnewland99 "@joealp1 Thank you for letting the forum know about histotripsy for pancreas. I had it done..." + (show)
Profile picture for marienewland @mnewland99

@joealp1
Thank you for letting the forum know about histotripsy for pancreas. I had it done on my liver July 2025 and still have a "clean liver". Worked better than the MRI radiation where the effect only lasted 5 months before lesions came back.

Jump to this post

@joealp1 You had histotripsy on your pancreas? That's awesome. Last I read, it was still in trial. Please keep us posted on your experiences. You are the first person that I met that had it done on their pancreas. @mnewland99 is my first person that experienced liver histotripsy.

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Zebra | @californiazebra | 2 hours ago
In reply to @joealp1 "@lhlawrence I'm an 87 year old man, diagnosed in Feb. 2025 with adenocarcinoma in head of..." + (show)
Profile picture for joealp1 @joealp1

@lhlawrence
I'm an 87 year old man, diagnosed in Feb. 2025 with adenocarcinoma in head of pancreas, non-resectable. I've been on chemo, gemcitabine and abraxane, since March, every 2 weeks, so far no metastasis. My surgical guy, Mark Bloomston, with Lee Health in southwest Florida, introduced me to two potential procedures for shrinkage of the tumor: nanoknife and histotripsy. The latter is non invasive, using high energy ultra sound to generate gas bubbles in the tumor that burst, destroying the tumor in the process. It's new for the pancreas, has been approved for use in the liver by the FCC. I had the histotripsy procedure done in December, as an outpatient, recovery a piece of cake, and significant impact on the tumor. Final results await the next scan, but Bloomston very pleased. Your doctors should be aware of these options, nanoknife has been around for a while. Histotripsy for the pancreas is new and wasn't covered by my insurance. Could be a problem. I've learned a lot from ChatGPT, recommend it as a surrogate doctor for general advice and options for discussion with the real gdoctors. Hope this helps.

Jump to this post

@joealp1
I just read that histotripsy for the pancreas is not available outside clinical trials. Is that true? Did you have it as part of a clinical trial? Do you mind saying where you had it?
Can you give details on “significant impact on the tumor” such as percentage reduction or went from x cm to y cm? Also, how long was the actual procedure (anesthesia time)? Thank you for any additional info.

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